


Dance at the Heart Tree

by Desert Dragonfly (bookbeachbunny)



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen, mention of Jon Snow, mention of Rob Stark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-19
Updated: 2016-01-19
Packaged: 2018-05-14 21:52:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5760190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bookbeachbunny/pseuds/Desert%20Dragonfly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ned fixes a screw-up and Arya learns what her brothers were really expecting when she was born.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dance at the Heart Tree

Ned sat on a rock in the snow at the heart tree and knew he had made a horrible mistake. He just didn’t know what had come over either one of them. He listened to the music from inside of Winterfell and wondered what if anything he could do about it. Probably nothing. Ned hated this kind of thing.  
What had she been thinking?  
What had he been thinking?  
It was such a little thing and he hadn’t even been able to give her that. After everything else…  
Even the children looked at him like he had been mad when he turned her down. But the question was just so unexpected. Ned closed his eyes. In truth it hadn’t been the dance. He would have loved nothing more than for the Umber’s to return home and all these people to go away so he could be with his wife in private.  
“Ned?”  
“Cat!”  
If the chill bothered her it was hard to imagine. She looked flushed and lovely. Ned’s anger spiked. She had probably been dancing with Greatjon again. That bloody man! But then again it wasn’t like he could do anything to stop her! She had asked him, even though she knew he never danced, she had reached her hands out to him but he had been so tired and his mood so foul. He could blame this last troublesome storm or the never leaving guests but that would only make matters worse.  
“Ned? You should come inside. Arya is flatly refusing to leave for bed without you saying goodnight to her first. I’m quite sure she’s been put up to it because none of the children are leaving…”  
Children?  
Ned wondered if she included Jon in that but then he cursed himself again. It was, for the thousandth time, an unfair thought to his wife. Whenever it involved putting Arya up to anything she was mostly likely talking about Jon and Robb together.   
Ned stood slowly and Cat made to turn away when he reached out and grabbed her arm running his hand down until he could wrap his fingers around hers. He had only just caught the cold beginning to seep into her skin and moved closer to wrap both her hands in his. Cat smiled up at him.   
“I owe you a dance.”  
“Oh, Ned. You don’t owe me… I know that you don’t like…”  
“Catelyn.”  
“Well, I know that your nerves are wearing thin.”  
At that there was the sound of raucous laughter and screams from the hall. All happy but still he could see the quick frown that covered her lovely face. She would want to get back to the children and get them off though Ned was confident they were well taken care of and probably enjoying themselves immensely.  
“Dance with me.”  
“Ned, I shouldn’t have asked.”  
“And I should haven’t said no. That was not right of me Catelyn,” he hurried on before she could absolve him as he knew that she would. There were times when Catelyn’s endless acceptance of his faults, the faults he knew too well, drove him to distraction. Yet he knew he was as much at fault for that as anything else.   
He reached up and touched his fingers to her cheek right as she was about to protest again and that stopped her cold.  
A smile played on her lips.  
“I won’t do this very well,” he informed her as they fell into the motions. Catelyn being far more graceful than he could ever manage.  
“You’re doing wonderfully!”  
It seemed the minute they started dancing the snow started falling faster. Ned’s time pouting and cursing himself was seemingly the calm before another storm. He held his wife a little tighter to him enjoying the way the white flakes settled in her lovely hair.  
She caught his look and flushed a little at his smile. Watching her was far better than watching his feet. There were as usual so many things he thought he could tell her in that moment. So many things he wanted to tell her.  
“Cat?”  
“Mother!”  
She started at the noise and turned around though Ned kept an arm around her waist as much for himself as the warmth. Arya stood in the snow staring up at them an annoyed look upon her face. “Robb said I was supposed to be a monkey!”  
“What?”  
“He said that before I was born you promised him that I’d be a monkey!”  
He could feel Cat trying not to laugh. As a matter of fact that had been Ned, he remembered back when that traveling animal man had been at Winterfell. He had been getting ready to leave her to deal with the bloody Greyjoy’s and the boys had been driving everyone to distraction for want of the man’s silly pet monkey.  
“No, absolutely not! You’re going to have another little brother and sister soon! And I’ll hear no more words about the silly creature!”  
He could still remember listening to the two of them trod off from him and Robb saying, “I’d rather the monkey.”  
“Maybe it will be a boy,” Jon tried.  
“If it’s as boring as Sansa…”  
“Maybe we can call it Monkey?”  
He smiled at the thought the boys even remembered that silly exchange. He wondered if they wouldn’t try to bring up another monkey. Though Bran was proving to be quite wily. “Ned?”  
“What? Wait…”  
Cat just raised an eyebrow at him and he realized he had rather left them both shivering in the snow. His daughter was giving him a look like she seemed to wondering if he had lost his mind. “Arya. You aren’t a monkey.”  
“I know I’m not a monkey!”  
“Go back inside, your mother and I will be there in a minute and for that matter say your good-nights to everyone!”  
She stomped off through the snow without another word. Cat just sighed, “Why does she always listen…”  
He didn’t let her finish before he grabbed her by the shoulders and kissed her deeply and he admitted to himself not with a lot of finesse. She didn’t seem to mind though. “I should ask you to dance every night…”  
“If it’s just the two of us I’m always willing to dance my lady!” he gave her a crooked smile and raised his eyebrow. This was not something that came natural to Ned Stark either but occasionally he got it right and the wine might have made him a little smoother.  
“Cat? Where are you going?”  
“To get rid of our guests my Lord!”  
And with that he followed her back through the snow chasing the long flowing hair he loved so much. He appreciated the warmth of the hall and the good nature of the celebration a little bit more as he grabbed her hand and caught another smile. Even if the first thing he heard was a little voice boldly shouting, “I am not a monkey!”  
So much for that moment of peace.


End file.
